Hello,

Have an '87 560sl and some of the interior illumination doesn't work..

In the dash (above the radio) are three switches in a row: rear defrost, antenna, and dome light. All three switches control the respective devices properly, but only the dome light one lights up at night. The shift indicator light is also out.

A few questions:

1. Pulled the antenna & defrost switches. Found a light tube plugged into the back of each switch (looks like this system has the fiber optic system same as my W126). Does the dome light also use this system or does it have its own bulb? If it uses the fiber optics, it looks like I have a break in two of the lines.

2. How to troubleshoot this? Where is the fiberoptic cluster? Behind the radio or behind the climate control? Other than looking for obvious "broken" fiber lines, are there any other ways 2 lines can fail while the other works? I assumed when the bulb died that all the lines went dark -- have never seen one still work.

3. Is the shifter light separate from this system? (ie. does it use it's own bulb?)

Thanks! Searched the EPC, W107 service CD, and the past posts here but can't find anything.

Neal

__________________
'83 300SD 335,000km (207k) mi SOLD
'87 560SL 163,000km (101k mi) SOLD
'86 300SDL 356,000km (220k mi) SOLD
'92 500SEL 250,000km (155k mi) SOLD
'90 300SL 140,000km (87k mi) SOLD
'01 S430 260,000km (161k mi) SOLD
'03 SL500 167,000km (104k mi) SOLD
'07 S550 4MATIC 235,000km (146k mi) SOLD
'07 GL320 CDI 4MATIC 348,000km (215k mi)
'13 GL350 BlueTec 4MATIC 170,000km (105k mi)
'14 SL550 72,000km (43k mi)

The fiberoptic leads either go to cluster or behind the a/c control panel, what happened to yours is a lead is probably disconnected from the main source . You will just have to get a light and see where the lead runs. The shifter light is a bulb on its own.

__________________
euro 287
Mercedes Technician 7 Years (retired to Hyundai)
2000 Dodge Durango
98 Mazda truck

the fiber optic source is behind the climate control panel on the back wall of that compartment. you can see the little wagon wheel with (on my 88 560SL) 4 little tubes heading out. I don't think that my antenna and defrost switches illuminate, but i can check. the buld that feeds that source is a pigtail off the climate control lighting loop. that bulb can pop loose. fairly easy to access.

Thanks..

In my 300SDL, all of the light switches do light up, they're just "dim" unless activated. It struck me as odd that 2 of these 3 switches were completely dark.

I pulled the switches themselves and removed the switch end of the light tubes (fibre optic line). With the headlights on, these lines don't light up.. definately a problem at the octopus.

I'll dig into the dash tonight and report back. It is sounding a lot like the 2 fibre lines are disconnected at the octopus OR the bulb in the octopus is out. I'm still wondering why the dome light switch works.. perhaps it has its own bulb?

Neal

__________________
'83 300SD 335,000km (207k) mi SOLD
'87 560SL 163,000km (101k mi) SOLD
'86 300SDL 356,000km (220k mi) SOLD
'92 500SEL 250,000km (155k mi) SOLD
'90 300SL 140,000km (87k mi) SOLD
'01 S430 260,000km (161k mi) SOLD
'03 SL500 167,000km (104k mi) SOLD
'07 S550 4MATIC 235,000km (146k mi) SOLD
'07 GL320 CDI 4MATIC 348,000km (215k mi)
'13 GL350 BlueTec 4MATIC 170,000km (105k mi)
'14 SL550 72,000km (43k mi)

Neal, have you found the answer if the antenna and defroster switches light up? I have the exact situation with these 2 switches AND the gear shifter.